Have we lived before? A Solano County hypnotherapist believes so

Have you or others experienced a past life? For years, Solano County hypnotherapist Gayla Reiter has explored that possibility with people, and the while it seems impossible to say one way or another, some who have undergone the process aren't sure.

Maybe it's like that scene in the 1991 movie "Defending Your Life" -- with one's former selves available for review at life's end -- or, maybe Past Life Regression therapy is a bunch of hooey.

For local practitioner Gayla Reiter of Benicia, it really doesn't matter if it's real or just feels like it is. Revisiting "past lives" has helped people improve their present ones and that's what counts, she says. Skeptics, however, suggest there's an inherent danger in the practice which, they say, can worsen troubled people's problems.

Reiter, a hypnotist and 30-year practitioner of Past Life Regression, says she's a strong believer in Eastern philosophies.

"It's not my job to convince anyone. I'm not on a soapbox. If it's not their belief, that's fine. I just know it's helped me learn and grow and helped so many others," Reiter said. "The hypnotic process can serve as a powerful catalyst for recognizing themes or karmic patterns in one's life."

The process can help bring subconscious "instincts" or "motivating forces" in areas like relationships, career, health problems, fears, phobias and recurrent financial problems, to the conscious level where they can be analyzed and conscious choices made, she said.

No laughing matter

In "Defending Your Life," Meryl Streep finds she was Joan of Arc in a previous incarnation, while Albert Brooks discovers he was a large cat's lunch. The film also includes Shirley MacLaine as the greeter in the Past Lives Pavilion in the way station for the newly deceased, in a good-natured spoof of the actress' well-known belief in reincarnation.

But, for some, the idea that souls return to earth to learn needed lessons or complete unfinished business, is no laughing matter.

Local resident Andrea Walker said she participated in several of Reiter's Solano Community College workshops and found the experience enlightening.

"I went through the gray tunnel and was looking at my feet. They were in small black-laced shoes like little boys wore in the 1800s, and I immediately recognized that I was a boy about 4 years old," Walker said. "I looked up and saw my older sister, a blonde girl dressed in attire from the same time, and I recognize her as my mother in my current life time."

Later in the session, Walker said she saw herself as an adult connected to law enforcement and in one saloon scene, recognized one of the outlaws she had a run-in with, as her ex-husband from this life. Her previous life as "James" ended at the hands of two friends who killed over James' friendship with Native Americans.

"They tie a rope around my neck, tie my hands and drag me behind a horse until I am dead," Walker said. "That evening prior to the regression I had been developing a cough, and it got worse as the hypnosis session went on until I was almost choking."

Journalist and former Vallejoan, Colleen Truelson said she's experienced a half dozen Past Life Regression sessions.

"As a journalist, of course I went in with skepticism. But the experience always turned out to be relaxing and revealing," Truelson said. "Whether it's an actual past life, or just your psyche giving you answers to issues you're facing, I found it most worthwhile."

Truelson, who now lives in Kansas, said she's seen herself as a farmer, "enjoying a peaceful life," as a miserable plains pioneer woman, and as an Egyptian child.

"Each of these came at times I was either feeling overwhelmed -- so the peaceful life gave me a feeling that I could leave peacefully -- or, through the miserable pioneer woman, I could see that she was choosing to be miserable," Truelson said. "The Egyptian thing seemed along the lines of facing your fears. I've never been a princess, sadly. But perhaps that will be the next time."

Truelson said she also tried "connecting" with lost loved ones, something else she found "wonderful and comforting" whether or not it's "real."

"The experience itself is so relaxing and information gleaned is always positive," she said. "(Reiter) is ... someone who helps you connect with something deep inside. It's really nice."

A therapist is born

Reiter said she began her present life nearly as far from Eastern mysticism as possible.

Born into a Christian family in Kansas, she and her parents moved to Oregon when she was a child. Reiter led an "ordinary" American life, earning a degree in political science, history and speech and then a scholarship to Harvard for a master's in business administration.

A 25-year federal government career followed, until a personal tragedy changed a long-standing interest in spirituality and other cultures, into a new life direction.

"I got interested in reincarnation in high school, reading about Edgar Casey(1877-1945)," the 20th century's most documented psychic. "I started noticing inconsistencies between (Christianity's) teaching and practice, and I wound up in a small church in Oregon."

Reiter said she thinks her developing belief system helped her deal with the 1984 death of her only child who was 5 1/2 months.

"You still have to grieve and figure out what you need for healing, and I don't know what her lesson was, but I do feel (my daughter) knew she was going to die that day," she said. "She didn't giggle or look at me like she normally did on the way to the sitter."

Reiter said she believes she and her lost daughter, Layla, knew each other before, and will again.

After trying hypnotherapy for herself, Reiter said she was hooked, eventually attending hypnotherapy school and becoming a licensed therapist, about 30 years ago.

Her own past lives, she said, were as both genders and several races and ethnicities.

"One of the first I recalled as a little black boy, likely in Africa, running through tall grass when suddenly I was floating above (myself) and a lion had torn off my leg," she said. "Some were in India, Tibet, China."

In this life, Reiter said she's been to many of these places and studied with some of the most famous past-life practitioners.

Reiter said she sees her past lives "as 'earth school' -- an opportunity to experience different paths and expand awareness."

She said she's come to believe "that sometimes disabilities and birth defects in children are something a soul chooses as part of the life lessons it needs to learn as part of its growth."

The real deal?

The idea of reincarnation is nearly as old as mankind, historians say.

"It's mentioned in the sacred texts of India and goes back way before Christ," Reiter said. "In some of the Bible's ancient (writings), reincarnation is mentioned."

But the practice of doing regression to help people recall past lives dates back to the late 1800s. The 1950s Bridie Murphy case caused interest to soar, she said. That's the case of Virginia Tighe, a Colorado woman who during hypnosis ostensibly recovered memories of a past life as a 19th century Irish woman.

Reiter acknowledges it's generally not possible to prove how real Past Life Regression is, or the details revealed in personal sessions. Yet evidence suggesting it's real does exist, she said.

"There are just so many cases where there are witnesses to verify the information provided by the person," Reiter said. She recounted one such episode in which a little girl identified earlier siblings and dug up her dowry money in her former backyard in a town she'd never visited in this life.

Reiter said she's among only a few Bay Area practitioners, and also concedes it's hard to tell the difference between the real deal and a proverbial snake oil salesperson.

"It's buyer beware," she said. "You're working in the subconscious and you need to feel the person is ethical and you need to feel a compatibility with them."

But, as might be expected, a significant school of thought suggests the whole concept is ridiculous. Some countries discourage the practice. Israel, for instance, in 2009 banned it among hypnotist therapists after reports that it was physically and psychologically harming some patients, according to Skeptic.com.

Several local psychologists declined to weigh in on the practice, but Skeptic.com describes "the alleged journeying into one's past lives while hypnotized," as improbable.

It notes that "while it is true that many patients recall past lives, it is highly probable that their memories are false memories ... from experiences in this life ... pure products of the imagination, intentional or unintentional suggestions from the hypnotist, or confabulations."

And the website also questions the practice as a healing method.

"It must be apparent even to the most superficial of therapists that there are great dangers in encouraging patients to create delusions," it notes. "Some false memories may be harmless, but others can be devastating. They can increase a person's suffering, as well as destroy loving relationships with family members."

Pastor Al Marks of Vallejo First Baptist Church said he thinks that believing in reincarnation is harmful because it keeps people from taking accountability for their own actions.

"It stops you from enjoying the life God gave you," Marks said. "I think people are looking for a second chance of doing it right. ... God is a God of second chances. He gives us a second chance every day, every single day. Instead of having another life, we have a second chance right here, right now. That's what people are looking for, that's what God gives us."

QuackWatch.com says "Past-life therapy is based on the notion that psychological disorders arise from the influence of traumas and personality traits from previous lives intruding on the subconscious. Proponents of this approach use hypnosis, meditation, or guided imagery to 'regress' the patient to alleged earlier incarnations that, when recalled, lead to resolution of the patient's problems. There is, however, no scientific evidence that this theory is valid."

But as far as Reiter and many of her clients are concerned, none of that matters.

"Hypnosis and regression work can provide access to our subconscious and allow unresolved issues -- whether it be terror, pain, anger, fear, guilt, etc. -- to come to the surface where (they) can be healed," Reiter said.

Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at RachelVTH.

At a glance

Gayla Reiter will hold a Reincarnation and Past Life Regression workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 9 at Solano Community College, including three regressions.